Did You Know? Temple's 1935 Sugar Bowl Practice Included a Train Platform, Loaf of Bread

Did You Know? Temple's 1935 Sugar Bowl Practice Included a Train Platform, Loaf of Bread

I used to joke L.J. Smith held the football like a loaf of bread. Turns out he would have made a great addition to the 1934 Temple Owls.

For the first time in 78 years, the Temple football team will travel to an away game by train, when they hop an Amtrak charter bound for UConn on Friday. Kickoff between the Owls and Huskies is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday (ESPN 3).

According to the Temple game notes, the last time the team traveled by rail was in Dec. 1934, on its way to the inaugural Sugar Bowl held on Jan. 1, 1935, in Baton Rouge, La. The trip, with then-coach Glenn "Pop" Warner, took three days, and according to legend:

"During a stop in Atlanta, Ga., the Owls stretched their legs on the station platform and held a 10-minute 'workout' with a loaf of bread as a football."

Temple lost the game to Tulane at Tulane Stadium, 20-14.

While we're on the subject, someone go see if Jerry Seinfeld is available to coach Mike Vick on how to wrap up a marble rye.

"I think anybody who knows me or who has played with or against me along the road here, knows that I am not that kind of player," Manning said, according to a statement released by the Flyers. "I am not out there intentionally trying to hurt people. I'm a guy who plays the game hard and I take pride in that."

Gretzky didn't mind seeing that fire in McDavid, saying competitiveness is part of what makes the great ones great. And he said the targeting comes with the territory of being a superstar. It was something he and Mario Lemieux dealt with, too.

"And Connor, he's going to get tested every night, but this is not new for him," Gretzky said Friday at the NHL board of governors meetings. "He's been tested since he was a kid and then playing junior hockey and now in the NHL and he's always responded and done his part."